Based in Massachusetts, USA Electric Hydrogen startup has become the world’s first green hydrogen company to increase its value to a billion dollars, Tech Crunch says. Green hydrogen refers to low-emission hydrogen produced using renewable electricity.
Investors have traditionally been cautious about hydrogen companies. The recent capital investment of 380 million dollars raises the value of Electric Hydrogen to more than 1 billion dollars. At the current exchange rate, one dollar is around 0.96 euros, so in practice, even in euros, you can talk about a billion-dollar company.
Among others, Microsoft’s climate innovation fund, the airline United Airlines, the British oil company BP and the Australian iron ore producer Fortescue Metals have invested in Electric Hydrogen.
Electric Hydrogen will use the new investments to expand the production capacity of electrolyzers powered by renewable energy. Electrolyzers are devices that break down water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.
Electric Hydrogen claims to have found a way to produce green hydrogen even cheaper. The company designs and manufactures the electrolyzer components itself. It assures that, with its technology, green hydrogen will soon be competitive in price with that made from natural gas.
Whereas electricity, which they get from batteries, is becoming common as the driving force for passenger cars and other small vehicles, hydrogen has been thought of as a solution for, among other things, airplanes, ships and heavy road traffic. Likewise, for example, the steel and chemical industry can utilize hydrogen.
In the future, Electric Hydrogen plans to sell electrolyzers, not hydrogen itself. The company is trying to get its electrolysis plant in Massachusetts up and running during 2024.
The intention is to sell 100 megawatt electrolyzer systems, each of which could produce nearly 50 tons of hydrogen per day. The company’s goal is that by 2030, hydrogen could be produced with renewables at a price of around $1.50, at least where there is plenty of renewable electricity available. The price is roughly the same as hydrogen produced from natural gas currently costs in the United States.
Electric Hydrogen was recently selected as the equipment supplier for New Fortress Energy’s hydrogen facility in Texas. The plant is scheduled to start up in the last quarter of 2024 and be fully operational in 2025.